Savills’ fourth edition of ‘What Workers Want’ survey reviews and analyses the results from the UK respondents to identify key trends for landlords and office-based occupiers across all business sectors.

Savills say: Office trends are increasingly driven by the employee rather than the occupier. It is important that occupiers understand their employees’ needs when they relocate or open a new office. This is particularly important during the fit-out process when moving into a new office.

The main conclusions of the Savills survey are:

Location – office workers place a high importance on public transport connectivity and proximity to amenities.

Layout – Open-plan offices are the dominant layout preference for occupiers with 80% working in this type of layout, but 45% of respondents believe hot-desking decreases their productivity.

Comfort – 60% of office workers preferred to have their own dedicated desk. Only 34% of respondents have been asked for their views on the office environment by their employer.

Flexibility – Occupiers are encouraging their staff to work flexibly whether that be remote working or promoting hot-desking. However, a third of respondents believe the company they work for does not possess the relevant technology.

Technology – Landlords and tenants may be able to increase staff productivity by use of smartphone apps.

Deliveries – Occupiers and landlords need to consider how they can improve the provision of parcel lockers by potentially using redundant ground floor/basement space.

Break-Out – Landlords and tenants need to ensure there are appropriate break-out areas or purpose-built cafés for their staff.

The most important factor in an office worker’s ideal workplace was the comfort of work area with 92% of the respondents considering this as highly important.

The quality of Wi-Fi technology has become a key factor in the workplace. This was evident from the survey, as 80% of respondents believed this was an important component in their ideal workplace. Tenants are increasingly using smart technologies, which are also becoming incorporated into office buildings.

Further research by Metropolis has highlighted the importance of ‘smart buildings’ to potential incoming tenants.

A recent blog from property consultant Savills, looked at the trends for the future of office space and some of the implications for market players. Savills say that the sector has progressed beyond putting a roof over workers’ heads, instead landlords and service providers need to be tuned to meet the needs of modern occupiers in order to attract businesses in an increasingly competitive landscape.

The relationships between landlords, tenants and staff has shifted. Building owners can no longer rely on the fact that they have four walls and a plug socket; but instead have to offer a best-in-class service if they want to entice occupiers to let their space. In turn businesses must provide their employees with a stand-out working environment if they want to both attract and retain the best staff.

So what are the emerging trends

Savills’ last What Workers Want survey showed that the workplace can have a significant impact on employees’ physical and mental health. Some of the measures that have caught the headlines have included running tracks on roofs, yoga studios and health-conscious canteens, but this is just the start. Savills predict more on-site GPs, crèche facilities and lockers for online retail deliveries to maximise employees time and productivity.

As well as the emphasis on wellness, there is also a need for greater sustainability and the impact that space might have on the wider environment. For this reason recycling, waste and energy consumption has never been so important. Metropolis finds increasing numbers of occupiers require office space with high levels of BREEAM standards as well as flexibility.

Metropolis has seen a high level of short leases negotiated in recent years alongside a trend for a floor by floor expansion by occupiers within an existing part-occupied building. In addition, refurbishment tenders incorperate a high level of IT utilisation and are now increasingly including flexibility to provide step free access.

Savills say that ultimately, landlords need to take the lead from the serviced office sector which is constantly adapting to create fresh ways of working to meet occupiers’ changing needs.

Central London office lettings in May 2018 reached over 1.3m sq ft from 45 mid-large size office transactions (5,000 sq ft+) during the month. The May 2018 figure is above the current monthly London average of 1m sq ft.

May was characterised by 14 office deals over 20,000 sq ft, which were led by the Chinesse Embassy’s deal to take Royal Mint in EC3; The Office Group’s 83,000 sq ft letting at One Canada Square, E14 and Epiris Advisers’ 59,000 sq ft at The Forum in Gutter Lane, EC2.

Public Services topped the table of lettings by sector, underpinned by Chinese Embassy deal. This was followed by business services led by a number of lettings by serviced office operators. Financial services, technology and media were also well represented. Office deals ‘under offer’ in central London increased to 3.4m sq ft, and pending deal volumes are healthy in nearly all sub-markets, with a large number of deals pending.

By area, the City accounted for 70pc of the office floorspace let in April 2018 at 912,,000 sq ft. The West End saw 209,000 sq ft of take-up. Midtown contributed 57,000 sq ft of lettings, plus 83,000 sq ft of Docklands deals. Current London office demand is calculated to be around 3.2m sq ft in the City and 2.6m sq ft in the West End.

The volume of grade A (newly built or refurbished office space) let during the month reached 1m sq ft sq ft (77% of the monthly total), as transactions for new space resumed their recent strong showing. Availability is dominated by secondhand space in all London markets.

Metropolis research is currently monitoring 640 ‘live’ London requirements, with deals for space of up to 1.8m sq ft due to sign in the next few months.

Cityoffices is working on its current ‘Skyline Survey’ in London. Further details of office scheme planning applications and consents, with scheme by scheme detail are listed on the Cityoffices.net website. Details on the report and the Cityoffices database from Andy King at andy@metroinfo.co.uk

Metropolis ran 557 business leads on ‘office movers’ in May 2018. If all reported moves were added together the total would exceed 17 million sq ft of office searches and transactions, researched by Metropolis’ unique market led intelligence research team. London was the largest region with 245 business leads during month, but there were also strong showings from the South East (71), North West (45), Yorkshire (39) and Scotland (37) . Business services and financials services were the largest business sectors planning relocations or agreeing moves during the month.

The relocation leads covered the whole UK and provided details of the size of the office occupier, company likely move dates, a description of the reasons for the move, its business sector and full contact details including an address for written inquiries, at least one telephone number and in most cases an email address. Some of the largest planned moves and top picks amongst the 557 May leads, included those on occupiers Chinese embassy, Barclays Bank, Telehouse, Societe Generale and Publicis.

The May 2018 leads included 154 ‘identified requirements’, including 83 in London. Which means that the company confirmed to researchers that it has current or future plans to search for alternative office space. Of these 154 searches, 110 were newly posted office searches, not previously notified to clients.

The most recent research also included 166 ‘potential movers’ which were mainly longer-term leads on occupiers, considering a relocation, but the occupier has yet to make a final decision on whether to search.

Most of the remaining stories covered companies that have just signed for new office space and have set a move date, including some large pre-lets and companies inviting tenders for fit-out contracts. The shortest planned move date is just over a month away, whilst the longest was late 2020.

Recent research by Metropolis concluded that a conservative estimate of ‘live’ business tender opportunities on the database in recent months, exceeded £1bn of business.

If you would like some information on flexible Metropolis subscription packages, then please email Andy at andy@metroinfo.co.uk

A recent report from the Manchester Office Agents Forum (MOAF) revealed a total of 1.208m sq ft of office lettings across 271 transactions in 2017, well above the 10-year average.

Metropolis ran over 330 business leads on Manchester office moves in 2017, which if all added together would total over 10m sq ft.

MOAF said strong demand for prime offices has left the market with a record low supply of Grade A office space.

The main schemes with available space are 101 Embankment, No 1 Spinningfields, 3 Hardman Square, 40 Spring Gardens and 2 St Peter’s Square, which is likely to trigger some short-term refurbishment projects

There are a number of Grade A schemes under construction to include Landmark (180,000 sq ft), 125 Deansgate (126,000 sq ft), Hanover, NOMA (90,000 sq ft), Circle Square (230,000 sq ft) and 11 York Street (80,000 sq ft), the majority of which will be delivered in mid-late 2019.